Content area
Purpose
Oman commitment for Sustainable Development Goals 2030 pushes green building at the forefront of construction industry. However, its green building progress is slower than other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and only a handful of local contractors have been involved in green project development. Understanding the barriers to green project delivery will open avenues for better project planning and preparation. This research aims to identify the barriers experienced by the contractors when constructing green buildings in Oman.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research, via a semi-structured interview process, explores the barriers experienced by 14 contractors when constructing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building projects in Oman. Using NVivo 12 software, thematic analysis was conducted through the generation of coding and themes which enable the identification of the relevant barriers.
Findings
The research uncovered 10 barriers and grouped them into five categories. The five categories are as follows: (1) insufficient skills development, (2) lack of government support and regulatory adjustment, (3) limitation in materials procurement, (4) documentation and coordination limitation and (5) difficulty in green rating compliance.
Originality/value
The research identified 10 barriers of constructing green buildings in Oman. These barriers gravitated on 4 issues: knowledge and competency, green rating requirements, government involvement and materials procurement. It streamlined clusters of the potential research area for more effective green building action plans in the future. Two barriers are deemed uniquely applied to Oman, namely “lack of needed regulatory adjustment” and “absence of local rating tools”. This insight can serve as a valuable steppingstone to push more green buildings for the country.
1. Introduction
The interest for green buildings grew rapidly with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, which committed the member states to collectively reduce emissions via various legislation and fiscal restrictions (Al-Badi and Al-Saadi, 2020). The admittance that green buildings are essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 has boosted more demand for their construction (Soyombo, 2024). Green buildings are primarily concerned with the impact of buildings on the environment. It emphasizes on resource conservation, ecological protection, pollution reduction and long-term environmental performance of a building (Wen et al., 2020). Many countries have executed necessary changes to their building requirements and encourage more buildings that comply with green rating tools (Okwandu et al., 2024).
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region’s hot and arid climate necessitates the need for more green building designs that are responsive to their climate conditions (Osman and Sevinc, 2019). The residential sectors of the GCC countries are among the highest energy consuming in the world and will continue to rise unless green concept is widely adopted in these countries (Ahmed and Asif, 2021). Countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar have taken a leading role in pursuing green buildings, while Oman is still slow in its progress (Al-Jebouri et al., 2017). Al-Badi and Al-Saadi (2020) stated that Oman has poor demand for green buildings due to the lack of motivation to change, poor knowledge of public on green building and the availability of highly subsidized electricity, which have dimmed the urgency for green buildings. Nonetheless, past studies in Oman have highlighted some effects of not incorporating sustainable practices in building construction such as the destruction of flora and fauna, resource depletion, waste issues, air and water pollution (Shammas, 2021; Al-Jebouri et al., 2017), which makes green building is the way forward for better construction industry.
According to Dodge Construction Network (2021), worldwide, only 28% of construction industry professionals are currently involved intensively in green building, with an expectation of an increase to 42% in 2024. This percentage affirmed that majority of construction professionals are not readily equipped with the experience of green buildings and thus would affect the green building construction progress. In Oman, most construction practitioners are still preferred to build conventionally (Safinia et al., 2017). To construct green buildings, it needs a collaboration effort from various stakeholders with green experience to minimize losses due to incompetency. While consultants are involved in the planning and design of the green buildings, it is the contractors that will take lead in transforming the design on paper into actual building and delivered to the client as per contract (Li et al., 2019).
Incompetency of project contractors is also one of the causes of project delay (Elawi et al., 2016). Lack of efficient managerial and administrative skills, limited knowledge and lack of capabilities to manage large projects have led to failures of some Omani contractors, causing majority of large projects to be undertaken by foreign firms (Powmya et al., 2023). Previous practices of bringing expatriates to manage complex projects are no longer viable due to Omanization policy which controls the influx of expatriates into the country (Al-Maskari et al., 2019). This makes it harder for green building projects to recruit foreign green experts, even though locals’ choice is limited. Thus, to push more green buildings without relying on foreign contractors, it is essential to build competency of local contractors by encouraging them to venture into green building development. Learning through experience has been proven effective to bring about better outcomes in the future (Yap and Shavarebi, 2022).
The process of constructing a building is complex and thus interwoven with various potential hurdles. This paper explores the barriers that the contractors faced when delivering green building projects in Oman. Using a qualitative approach, contractors with green experience have been interviewed to ensure the information gained will be based on the experience instead of mere perception. The identified barriers provide insights into the difficulties experienced by the contractors and would open grounds for further actions, efforts and research. The findings will create learning opportunities for other contractors and will be the impetus towards a positive change in general acceptance of green building development.
2. Literature review
Green buildings have mostly been dubbed to outperform conventional buildings in several performance areas including lower energy and water consumption, improved indoor air quality, enhanced health and productivity and increased property value (Lu et al., 2024). Li et al. (2020) stated that although there is a steady growth trend in literature on green building since 2000, the focus is more towards energy performance, building assessments, building designs, technology applications, regulations and recently on user satisfactions. Additionally, Li et al. (2020) identified that human factors and how they influence green project outcome are one of the shortcomings of the past research.
The building sector in Oman consumes 80% of the total electrical energy (Al-Badi and Al-Saadi, 2020). Due to its geographical location, Oman is very vulnerable to climate change, and thus, the Omani government committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 7% by 2030 and joined net-zero emission commitment by 2050 (Alrawahi et al., 2023). Green buildings have been dubbed important to achieve Oman Vision 2040 which seeks to ensure economic growth and sustainability in the country (Al-Alawi and Jawarneh, 2023). Nonetheless, the progress of green building is slow compared to its neighbouring countries (Saleh and Alalouch, 2015). As at the end of 2021, only 22 buildings in Oman were certified under LEED as compared to 758 buildings in Saudi Arabia, 571 buildings in the UAE and 135 buildings in Qatar (USGBC, 2024). The introduction of Oman Building Environmental Certification as a rating tool is still at its infancy, and thus, LEED has been used as the preferred rating tool in the country (Al-Jebouri et al., 2017).
Constructing conventional buildings is different from green buildings in terms of choices of materials, technologies and prioritizing elements of eco-friendly design and work processes (Tran, 2020). Due to its inherent complexity, Hwang et al. (2015) stated that green building projects were plagued with delay risks and stressed the need for improving project delivery processes. Researchers have been debating on what constitutes a successful project delivery. The common indicators of a successful project delivery are completion as per schedule, within allocation of budget, and as quality intended (Acheamfour et al., 2019). However, scholars also highlight that successful project delivery should look beyond the end product to include other aspects such as health and safety assurance (Shen et al., 2018) and environmental protection (Acheamfour et al., 2019). All these additional aspects fall within the contractor scope of work to ensure a successful project delivery. In Oman, scholars have indicated that poor performance of conventional contractors was due to inefficient managerial and administrative skills, limited knowledge and lack of capabilities (Elawi et al., 2016). Incapability of local contractors in delivering construction projects pushed the clients to award the projects to foreign contractors (Powmya et al., 2023). Although the government enjoys short-term benefits of projects delivered by international contractors, in the long run, it is better to equip the local contractors with the required knowledge and experience to build their capability. Al-Jebouri et al. (2017) indicated that having a strict guideline to be adhered to by the contractors will ensure the quality of the final product, and learning through this compliance will become the ladder for enhancing skills and competency, such as compliance to green rating tools.
Green building projects require contractors to take additional precautions at site and comply with higher construction standards or green requirements (Banihashemi et al., 2017). With these additional expectations and the complexity inherent in obtaining green certification, contractors are bound to experience some difficulties along the way. From literature, there are 8 barriers that have been highlighted by scholars in delivering green projects. These barriers were obtained from literature published from the year 2015 and above. Newer sources are focused to ensure the barriers are relevant to current practice.
The first barrier is government intervention which can affect the process of project delivery through their regulations and inadequate support. Tran (2020) identified that the lack of legal regulations and technical codes, standards and guidelines on green building are among major challenges for Vietnam contractors to execute green projects. Lack of incentives was also identified as one of the challenges for green projects in Ghana (Ametepey et al., 2015) and Singapore (Hwang et al., 2018). Secondly, the contractors need to spend additional time and effort to prepare necessary documents for green certification (Azouz and Kim, 2015; Dung et al., 2020). The complexity of green certification process pushes the contractor to take extra precaution in ensuring all documentations are complete. Any misinformation will delay the whole process. Due to green technology, materials, certifications and additional consultants expected for green projects, past research has shown an increase in project capital cost (Shen et al., 2018; Venkataraman and Cheng, 2018).
The application of green technologies is another hindrance for the contractors. Green buildings especially are an amalgamation of many innovative approaches, whether through new products or advanced processes. As such, newer technologies are part and parcel of green projects. Technical issues and incompatibility of the procured technology can hinder the successful project delivery (Shen et al., 2018; Tran, 2020). Besides, unavailability of green materials in local market often requires contractors to import from other countries (Chan et al., 2018) which are usually more expensive than the local counterpart (Dung et al., 2020; Saleh and Alalouch, 2015). Green materials impose the same problem as green technologies. It is about application, availability and suitability.
Competency of contractors and subcontractors is another challenge for the contractors (Darko et al., 2017; Powmya and Abidin, 2014). Tran (2020) identified that contractors face difficulty in engaging other contractors and subcontractors with required green skills, knowledge and experience. In the end, the contractors would have to plan for trainings to increase their knowledge on green construction. Apart from subcontractors, consultants’ incompetency can also be problematic to the contractors. Nguyen et al. (2017) identified that local consultants’ unfamiliarity with green requirements hinder successful project delivery as their design and specification may include incompatible solutions. Finally, clients’ lack of commitment for fulfilling green requirement can also affect the contractor’s delivery (Wong et al., 2021; Darko et al., 2017). As those financing the project, clients’ commitment ensures that all technologies, materials or design put forth for the betterment of project outcome can be applied effectively (Nguyen et al., 2017; Venkataraman and Cheng, 2018). These challenges are summarized in Table 1.
Understanding barriers in any practices is the key for transformation. The need to identify and overcome barriers has been emphasized by many theories related to performance growth such as Dynamic Capability Theory, Diffusion of Innovation Theory and System Theory. In Dynamic Capability Theory, for example, recognizing barriers helps organizations adapt and seize opportunities for better performance (Choi et al., 2018). In Diffusion of Innovation Theory, understanding barriers facilitates the effective adoption and implementation of innovative practices (Banihashemi et al., 2017), while in System Theory, identifying barriers within interdependent systems will assist in achieving optimal performance (Kimotho et al., 2023). Green projects often involve complex sustainability considerations, new technologies and regulatory requirements. Identifying and understanding the unique barriers in green project delivery enables contractors to foster sustainable practices, promote environmental stewardship and achieve successful delivery of green projects.
3. Research design
This research delves into the barriers to deliver green building in Oman. The potential respondents must be involved as main contractors in delivering registered or certified LEED green building projects. In Oman, as there are only a small number of contractors who have experience in this type of project development, a qualitative approach is deemed most appropriate to gain in-depth understanding of the barriers experienced by the contractors when delivering green projects.
In the year 2021, there are a total of 18 LEED-certified projects and 33 LEED-registered projects in Oman. A LEED-certified project refers to a building or construction project that has met the standards established by LEED and has been awarded with a certification, while a LEED-registered project refers to a project that has initiated the process of pursuing certification by registering with the USGBC. For all 51 green building projects, only 22 contractors were involved as the main or lead contractors, indicating repetition in contractors’ appointment. Purposive sampling was used to ensure that only contractors with the green experience would be approached. All 22 contractors were contacted to participate in the interview, amounting to 100% of the research sample. In total, 14 contractors agreed to participate in the interview, representing 64% of the responses. The saturation point seems to have reached at the 11th interview as no new barriers were identified, but the interviews continued until the 14th respondent for validation of the saturation point. According to Saunders et al. (2016), a range of 5–25 interviews are sufficient for a semi-structured qualitative study or until it reached data saturation. This research’s number of respondents is within the range indicated and has reached saturation. Through thematic analysis, codes and themes emerged which enabled strong interpretation of the findings. The interview transcripts were imported to the NVivo 12 software for the process of coding. The process of conducting thematic analysis follows the sequence indicated by Creswell and Poth (2018), in which text in transcripts was examined through open coding process until clear themes are defined and finalized.
Due to the location of the contractors’ office and COVID-19, all willing respondents requested for the interviews to be conducted online through the video conferencing platform “Zoom”. All interviews were recorded with the permission of the interviewees. All respondents hold management positions in contractor firms such as project managers, general managers, LEED coordinators, head of sections and project directors. One respondent has work experience between 5 and 10 years, while the rest have more than 10 years of experience. As the research only targets main or lead contractors, the classification of the company as per the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry is expected to be of higher ranking. A total of three respondents are attached with “international”-grade companies, nine are from “excellent”-grade companies, while two are from firms that have both “international” and “excellent” grades. The four companies classified as “international” have headquarters outside Oman, namely 2 in the UAE, 1 in Canada and 1 in India. There is one firm with the highest number of green project involvements (>10 projects), while the rest is between 1 and 6 projects. This number of project involvement is not limited to their participation as a main contractor. The green projects focused on the interviews are all completed projects except for 3, which are still ongoing. The ongoing project has “registered” status with LEED, while the rest have obtained full certification (7 Gold, 2 Platinum and 2 Silver). The projects are mostly located in Muscat (11 projects), one each in Salalah, Sur and Nizwa.
4. The findings
The interview unveiled ten (10) barriers that are grouped under 5 categories: (1) insufficient skills development, (2) lack of government support and regulatory adjustment, (3) limitation in materials procurement, (4) documentation and coordination complexity and (5) difficulty in green rating compliance. Table 2 presents these barriers with examples of responses from the interview texts reinterpreted as codes. The repetition of the codes is viewed as the frequency of such codes. For confidentiality issues, the 14 respondents are given code name R1 – R14.
To ensure consistency of the codes, the barriers have all appeared more than 2 times from the interview text. Out of the 10 barriers, four (4) of them have been commented by all respondents, while the rest have appeared 4 time or above. The frequency of the comment is shown in Figure 1.
4.1 Insufficient skills development
Insufficient skills development refers to a contractor’s poor knowledge, experience and technical skills required to implement project activities. The 2 barriers identified under this category are “lack of knowledge and experience” and “incompetency in Building Information Modeling (BIM) usage”.
1. Lack of knowledge and experience
This barrier refers to people (contractor’s employees, sub-contractors, consultants) awareness, knowledge, skills and expertise related to green projects. All respondents mutually agreed that green concept is new in Oman construction industry, and the progress is still at its infancy. To some of the respondents [R4, R6, R9, R12 and R13], their current project is their maiden experience. The 14 responses obtained from this interview focused on (1) learning curve for new requirement and green materials, (2) site workers’ skills and behaviour and (3) incompatible design and specification of materials by consultants. As this approach is new, the contractor needs time to learn LEED requirement and to procure green materials [R9]. The unfamiliarity with green products also causes delay in the material selection process and material delivery plan [R10]. Sub-contractors also struggle in educating themselves in green requirement [R7, R9, R10]. Some sub-contractors proposed methods that do not comply with LEED [R7]. The lack of skills of the site workers and their ignorance in proper green behaviour had created many problems at site, such as poor quality of work [R10], damage to materials due to improper storage [R8] and refusal of waste materials by recyclers [R1]. Lack of knowledge and experience of the consultant causes problems in design and material specifications. Respondents R3 and R9 indicated that they have difficulty in applying the materials and design specified by the consultants because of the incomplete specification given or incompatibility with LEED requirement. Inexperienced consultants tend to copy specification from past projects which are not appropriate for green projects [R11]. Respondent R6 gave an example of design incompatibility “We had structural glazing. When we started to prepare shop drawings, back-calculation was done. There was sag beyond the permissible deflection limit”. Incompatible design by consultants causes project delay as the contractor has to propose alternative design or materials or methods which should be approved by the client and consultant.
2. Incompetency in BIM usage
Incompetency in BIM usage refers to the lack of skills by the project team in applying the BIM technology, which hinders the full effectiveness of BIM application. There were 4 responses that supported this as a barrier by indicating that the unfamiliarity of the application among the employees prompted the need to engage outside expert. Respondents indicated that BIM is one of the new technologies expected in some of the green projects. However, this technology is new to most contractors as BIM itself is not widely practiced in Oman. When their client expects BIM to be applied in green projects, the contractors struggle in its application [R1, R8]. The lack of competency on this new technology among the employees prompted the need to outsource BIM experts to help the contractor and the project [R11].
4.2 Lack of government support and regulatory adjustment
Lack of government support and regulatory adjustment refers to governmental rules and regulations that can restrict the contractors. There are 2 barriers identified under this category, namely “lack of needed regulatory adjustment” and “lack of government support”.
1. Lack of needed regulatory adjustment
Lack of needed regulatory adjustment refers to mandatory rules to be followed in the country. A total of 9 respondents commented on this barrier. Respondents faced difficulty to implement government laws regarding employment of Omanis in the construction sector, the use of local materials and third-party involvement in testing and commissioning. Contractor firms have difficulty in hiring experienced employees for their projects as the government has banned recruitment of expatriates for certain trades including engineers and technicians [R8]. Omanization policy requires them to hire a mandatory percentage of Omanis. However, most Omanis are not interested to work in the construction sector [R4], and those who are interested do not have the adequate skills to actively contribute to green development [R13]. Restriction in special trade skills requires the contractor to employ more skilled workers as they cannot multi-task them. For example, respondent R6 highlighted that, “A carpenter should be only working as a carpenter. He cannot work in another job”.
The government of Oman is insisting on the use of local materials and products to boost local economy. Respondent R6 informed that, “If the price difference between local and imported material is less than 10%, we will be compelled to go for local product”. Thus, meeting the LEED requirements with limited local options is a problem which can delay the project progress as negotiation may take place to reach certain agreement [R11]. Respondent R11 also highlighted the compulsion of having the presence of third party for testing and commissioning of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing systems, such as an Oman Civil Defence representative for testing and commissioning of fire and safety system.
2. Lack of government support
Lack of government support refers to the absence or inadequate action from government authorities to encourage contractors to pursue green projects. A total of 8 respondents commented on this barrier. Respondent R4 expressed that, “Not much support or encouragement from the government as of now, it should start from their side”. Lack of incentives to contractors engaged in green projects in the form of expedited approvals from authorities or financial assistance hinders construction progress [R11]. Respondent R5 informed that they usually seek the required knowledge from private entity, other Gulf countries or through joint venture with foreign partners because the government did not provide adequate awareness programme and training. The government legislation, guidelines and policies are yet to incorporate green requirement [R8], and there is still an absence of local green rating tool [R10]. This is supported by respondent R8 who stated, “Sometimes no rule is an issue”.
4.3 Limitation in materials procurement
Limitation in materials procurement refers to restrictions in obtaining green materials and products required for project implementation. The barriers under this category are “specific criteria of materials” and “limitation in local green products and materials”.
1. Specific criteria of materials
Specific criteria required for materials in green project were highlighted by 5 respondents. The criteria include (1) sources of materials, (2) materials’ green certified status, (3) recyclable content and (4) material suitability with local climate. These criteria ensure they comply with LEED requirement. However, the respondents stated that it was difficult to identify materials that meet the requirement and the process of finding them consume time [R9]. For example, respondents R7 and R8 argued that certain products such as wood and flooring materials must come from certified sources or must have certified status. For example, respondent R7 stated that their flooring option must have a Carpet and Rug Institute certificate to be accepted for the projects. Certain materials are required to have acceptable recyclable content to get approval. As stated by respondent R1, “We need to source that particular gypsum with some minimum amount of recycled content”. While many green certified materials are available worldwide, some may not be suitable in Gulf region climate [R5]. This creates a more exhaustive process in selecting LEED compliance materials for Omani contractors [R9].
2. Limitation in local green products and materials
The lack of choice and availability of local products complicates the procurement of project materials and products. All respondents mentioned that most of the materials that are needed to satisfy LEED requirement are not available at the local market, which prompted the need to import them. Respondent R4 stated that, “Majority materials are imported because locally we could not get LEED complying materials.” This is further supported by respondent R5, “There is no company in Oman making recycled block that comply with LEED”. Respondents R6 provided an example by indicating that “Local polythene sheet is much expensive than the Qatar plastic”. Respondents reported that global sourcing of materials and technologies can cause delay to the project [R9, R10, R11 and R13]. Respondent R13 stated that, “We have to wait for minimum of 3 to 4 months for imported green materials and technologies.” Failure of on-time material delivery at the construction site would cause work stoppage.
4.4 Documentation and coordination complexity
Documentation and coordination complexity refers to the difficulty in managing documentation for LEED certification and coordination among project stakeholders. There are 2 barriers under this category, namely, “documentation complexity” and “limitation in innovation opportunity”.
1. Documentation complexity
Many documents are required for submission to LEED for certification purposes. The 5 responses indicated that unfamiliarity with new documentations and certification requirements, difficulty in gathering material certification and the process of recalculating LEED credit achievement are what make documentation process a daunting task. Respondents R8 and R9 informed that their staff members are mostly unfamiliar with LEED certification and documentation requirements, which causes delay in the whole process. Respondent R1 admitted that some staff members fail to understand the importance of managing documents for LEED certification, “Let us say we are using high reflective roofing material. The material is the same as what have been used in conventional project, but we need to go for a kind of testing to prove that it is meeting the LEED requirement”. They need to ensure proper testing documentation is in place, especially if the same material is commonly procured in conventional projects. Some respondents mentioned that extra effort was required to collect, store and submit documentation that can be time-consuming and resource-intensive [R5, R8]. Another piece of information required in the document is the amount of energy and water savings. Calculation and recalculation of these savings consume time and require certain software programs to manage them [R8].
2. Limitation in innovation opportunity
Contractors have limited opportunity in influencing innovative ideas for the projects. Almost all respondents stated that they involve in green project after the design is completed and specification is finalized. Respondent R1 stated that, “If general contractor is involved early in design stage, he can add valuable contribution by providing innovative approach based on past project experience”. Problem also arises when the design consultants are less verse in green technology. They tend to design and specify materials commonly used in conventional projects, which may or may not meet green standards. Such specifications pose difficulty at the construction stage when the contractor must recommend and justify the need of material change [R13].
4.5 Difficulty in green rating compliance
Difficulty in green rating compliance refers to issues in complying with green rating system to achieve targeted certification. There are 2 barriers identified under this category, namely “absence of local rating tool” and “additional site requirement”.
1. Absence of local rating tool
Based on the existing and ongoing green buildings, Oman has only adopted the LEED rating tool. The absence of their own tailor-made green rating tool creates challenges as some of the criteria in LEED cannot or are difficult to fulfil due to different climate and settings [R1, R5, R11]. Contractors also face problems due to certain unclear requirements in LEED. For example, LEED does not specify the level of dust control for different geographical regions. Respondent R1 mentioned that “In a desert when client expects us not to have dust anywhere, is a challenge. Some clients accept dust control up to a certain level”. The requirements of LEED compel the consultants to specify technologies and materials from Western countries [R11]. All respondents stated that such requirements persuade contractors to import many green technologies and materials, which increases cost and requires effective material procurement planning.
2. Additional site requirement
Although conventional projects are also expected to protect the site for environmental purposes, the requirement is more stringent for green projects. An example of site protection is prevention of fertile land loss due to water that flows out of the construction site [R8] and sediment control to prevent the entry of mud on vehicle tires into storm-water runoff [R9]. Regular site inspections are required at these project sites compared to their conventional counterparts [R12]. A total of 7 respondents informed that additional efforts are required to ensure the site follows the requirement set under the LEED rating tool. This consumes time and resources. Some green materials must contain a certain percentage of recycled content to comply with LEED requirements. However, the lack of supporting facility for waste recycling or limited availability of recyclers in the country makes it difficult for them to recycle construction waste [R1, R5, R10, R12 and R14]. It is quite challenging for contractors to maintain hygienic conditions at the site as many activities keep going around the site simultaneously. The barrier is escalated when the site is at proximity to the desert. While high humidity may cause fungus development in components such as air condition ducts due to moisture, low humidity causes dryness. Thus, indoor air quality maintenance is a challenge for contractors.
5. Discussion
Green projects are inherently different from conventional projects from management, technological and technical perspectives. The research uncovered 10 barriers to delivering green projects in Oman through the experiences of the project contractors, as opposed to 8 barriers identified from the literature. Based on the research findings, five barriers from literature have been renamed and expanded into 9 barriers, while the other 3 barriers have been identified as part of other barriers. The modification of the categories of barriers is to ensure better representation of the Omani contractors’ barriers and to avoid duplications in interpretations. First, “government intervention” from the literature has been split into 2 barriers, namely “lack of needed regulatory adjustment” and “lack of government support”. Second, “certificate requirement” has been split into “documentation complexity” and “additional site requirement”. Third, “availability of green materials” is divided into “specific criteria of materials” and “limitation in local green products and materials.” “Competency of contractors and sub-contractors” and “experience of consultant” from the literature are regrouped as “lack of knowledge and experience”, “limitation in innovation opportunity” and “incompetency in BIM usage”. The three barriers being absorbed within other barriers are “application of green technologies”, “client commitment” and “capital cost increment”. “Application of green technologies” is deemed as part and parcel of green building. “Client commitment” is not seen as contractors’ barriers as their commitment is considered secured by committing to LEED rating certification, while “capital cost increment” is considered inherent in any part of project decisions regardless it is for deciding on the use of green products or the need for recruiting experienced workers; thus, it is not seen as a separate barrier entity. “Absence of local rating tool” is a new barrier emerged from this study. The similarities and differences between this research findings and past studies are discussed next.
There are four barriers that have been highlighted by all respondents: “lack of knowledge and experience”, “limitation in local green products and materials”, “limitation in innovation opportunity” and “absence of local rating tool”. Ferme et al. (2018) supported that “lack of knowledge and experience” is an important barrier by indicating how it can affect contractors’ work fulfilment in terms of quality expectation and project delivery. Abdelaal and Guo (2021) affirmed the lack of knowledge among contractors’ employees and sub-contractors will significantly affect their attitude and practice which subsequently affects the overall project performance. Chan et al. (2018) also stressed the significance of this barrier by indicating that the poor knowledge and experience of those involved in the project can jeopardize the achievement of green goals of the projects. The limited skills and knowledge of the employees and sub-contractors necessitate the arrangement of training which leads to cost increment (Hwang et al., 2018). This research affirmed that limited local green products and materials is one of the important barriers to green building development. Similar findings are discovered in other developing countries such as Vietnam (Dung et al., 2020) and Ghana (Ametepey et al., 2015), which highlighted that such limitations raised project cost due to the need for imported materials or procuring expensive local products. Saleh and Alalouch (2015) also stated that the use of imported materials for Omani projects has resulted in cost increase. Relying on imported materials can also lead to issues such as time-consuming delivery process and the need for performing testing and inspection to ensure suitability with local climate (Dung et al., 2020).
Contractor’s early involvement enables utilization of their knowledge and skills in green technologies and innovative ideas for the formation of the project design (Ferme et al., 2018). Venkataraman and Cheng (2018) stated that contractors’ experience will enable them to push innovative solutions early for execution of green building projects. Similar to Khalil et al. (2021) in Libya, this study also discovered that the contractors do not have many opportunities to inject innovation prior to construction stage. Hezaro and Lizarralde (2015) stated that to ensure successful green building delivery, it is crucial to enhance collaboration and promote innovation in the project process and not just for the end product. There is one new barrier that has emerged from this research, “absence of local rating tool”, which is consistent with the situation in Oman where they rely on the LEED rating tool for building certification (Al-Jebouri et al., 2017). Khan et al. (2021) stressed the need for building rating tools specific to a country to address the local environmental needs and sustainability issues.
This research discovered that Omani government could promote green building if they can adjust two regulatory requirements, namely Omanization policy and insistence of local materials. As Omanization policy limits the number of expatriates in the country, and the local expertise in green construction is limited, it makes sense that gaining skills and expertise is a daunting task (Ahmed et al., 2023). Saleh and Alalouch (2015) highlighted that many materials and technologies that comply with green certification are not available locally. This contradiction with government strict regulation imposed a major hurdle for contractors to proceed with the works. The lack of government support in terms of policies, guidelines and incentives as part of barriers is expected as past research studies have been adamant on the need for government support (Marsh et al., 2020). While lack of incentive is a common barrier for green projects in most countries (Ahmed et al., 2023), incentives are commonly been given initially to push more interest for green projects (Onuoha et al., 2018). For countries like Oman that is still slowly moving to embrace greener construction, incentive is a powerful tool to boost the acceptance.
Oman relies on the LEED rating tool to certify its green buildings. Unfamiliarity with the LEED requirement leads to complication in preparing LEED documentation for certification process. This finding concurs with the studies done by Khan et al. (2021) and Chan et al. (2016) on the complication of adopting international rating tools. Preparation of documentations for green certifications has been one of the common hindrances for green development (Simpeh et al., 2023; Dung et al., 2020; Chan et al., 2018). This study concurs with the study by Huo et al. (2019) that indicates that the need to comply with green rating requirement will add more tasks to the site operation. As green buildings have more stringent requirements, BIM has been deemed as an effective tool to successfully deliver such projects (Cao et al., 2022). Incompetency of using BIM will affect project delivery.
Finally, as found by Abidin and Azizi (2021), cost for managing projects is mostly borne by developers. While many scholars highlighted the cost issues for green projects (Ahmed et al., 2023; Chan et al., 2018), it may not be of high concern for contractors as most expenditure will be offset with the payment from the client. However, there are cost concerns for Omani contractors discovered from this research, such as issues of imported materials, training for local expertise and cost of green certification. These have been absorbed under different headings as explained in the findings.
6. Conclusions and recommendations
The need to identify barriers has been emphasized by many theories related to performance growth such as Dynamic Capability Theory, Diffusion of Innovation Theory and System Theory. According to these theories, knowing what hinders the progress can guide the development of action plan or strategy for future growth and better performance. Due to different climate, culture, regulations, knowledge and economics, different countries may encounter different sets of hurdles compared to their neighbouring countries. This research focuses on identifying contractors’ barriers when constructing green buildings in Oman. A qualitative approach, via an interview process, has been conducted with 14 contractors who have experience in green building projects delivery. Based on the experience of local main contractors, there are 10 barriers to delivering green projects. Among these barriers, “lack of needed regulatory adjustment” and “absence of local rating tools” are deemed uniquely applied to Oman, while other barriers have similarities with other developing countries.
In general, the barriers are gravitated on 4 issues: knowledge and competency issues, green rating requirements, government involvement and materials procurement. Further research can be recommended based on these angles. In terms of knowledge and competency issues, research can focus on how to increase locals’ awareness, expertise and readiness to undertake green projects. These are not limited to local contractors but should extend to developers, consultants, local authorities, suppliers and project workers. Perhaps, research can also investigate on how to develop better training and educational programs to spur green building acceptance and progress. The aspects concerning green rating requirements do not apply to LEED certification only. Any new tools introduced would encounter resistance at the beginning before the learning curve settled in. However, to boost the acceptance of applied rating tools, it is important to understand all the necessary requirements to ensure compliance. When using an international rating tool, the problem of local climate and culture differences could be a major hurdle. As Oman does not have their own local rating tools, they relied on the LEED rating tool for building certification. This is a glaring issue as it leads to many problems to the contractors. While LEED has been widely adopted in many countries, some of the requirements create difficulties for local implementation due to climate differences, government involvement and industry unpreparedness to widen options for local products. It is recommended to speed up the introduction of Oman’s own rating tool for the industry usage. Future research can also focus on how the government can assist in promoting green building projects by adjusting certain regulatory requirements for the betterment of the green building progress. This includes aspects under Omanization policy and restriction in foreign products. As local green products are currently limited which causes imbalance in demand and supply, the government and professional bodies must find ways to encourage more development of local products that comply with international standard quality. As incentive is a powerful tool to boost construction interest for green development, it is perhaps beneficial for Oman’s government to review any incentive to promote more green building and more local products.
One of the limitations of the research is the number of its population. The number of green building projects in Oman is small compared to its neighbouring countries. As local contractors with green building projects are limited, they tend to get awarded repeatedly, giving less chance for new contractors to enter the market. This limits the size of research population but makes it ideal for qualitative research.
Understanding barriers in any practices is the key for transformation. Green projects often involve complex sustainability considerations, new technologies and regulatory requirements. Identifying and understanding the unique barriers in green project delivery enables contractors to foster sustainable practices, promote environmental stewardship and achieve successful delivery of green projects.
Declaration of interest: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
Figure 1
Number of responses for each barrier to deliver green projects
[Figure omitted. See PDF]
Table 1
Barriers facing contractors to deliver green building projects
| Venkataraman and Cheng (2018) | Powmya and Abidin (2014) | Shen et al. (2018) | Hwang et al. (2018) | Saleh and Alalouch (2015) | Tran (2020) | Azouz and Kim (2015) | Nguyen et al. (2017) | Dung et al. (2020) | Chan et al. (2018) | Saleh and Alalouch (2015) | Ametepey et al. (2015) | Wong et al. (2021) | Darko et al. (2017) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Government intervention | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||||||
| 2. Certification requirement | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||||||
| 3. Capital cost increment | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |
| 4. Application of green technologies | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||||||||
| 5. Availability of green materials | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||||||
| 6. Competency of contractors and sub-contractors | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| 7. Experience of consultants | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||||||
| 8. Client commitment | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Source(s): Table by authors
Table 2
Examples of responses on barriers to delivering green projects
| Barriers | Examples of responses |
|---|---|
| 1. Insufficient skills development | |
| C1 – Lack of knowledge and experience |
|
| C2 – Incompetency in BIM usage |
|
| 2. Lack of government support and regulatory adjustment | |
| C3 – Lack of needed regulatory adjustment |
|
| C4 – Lack of government support |
|
| 3. Limitation in materials procurement | |
| C5 – Specific criteria of materials |
|
| C6 – Limitation in local green products and materials |
|
| 4. Documentation and coordination complexity | |
| C7 – Documentation complexity |
|
| C8 – Limitation in innovation opportunity |
|
| 5. Difficulty in green rating compliance | |
| C9 – Absence of local rating tool |
|
| C10 – Additional site requirement |
|
Source(s): Table by authors
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